For a second time, a Blue Cross and Blue Shield executive is stepping into an “on-loan” slot to run Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown’s Office of Public-Private Partnerships.

Earnie Franklin, who has been president of Florida Blue subsidiary Incepture, was named Tuesday to succeed Renee Finely.

Finley returned to Blue Cross after about a year and a half at City Hall.

Florida Blue is an arm of Blue Cross.

Franklin will focus on expanding Jacksonville’s partnerships with private and nonprofit organizations, the Mayor’s Office said in a release that touted his background.

“He has a distinguished career in health care, with a strong background in strategic planning, business transformation and project management. I look forward to working with him,” a written statement from Brown said.

Franklin is scheduled to run the office for 18 months without drawing a city salary.

Steve Patterson

Bondi joins DOJ to oppose airline merger

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is one six state attorneys general who have joined the U.S. Department of Justice in challenging the proposed $11 billion merger between U.S. Airways Groups Inc. and AMR Corp., the parent company of American Airlines.

The coalition filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday in Washington, D.C. that seeks to stop the creation of the largest worldwide carrier, claiming the merger would reduce competition among commercial air companies and could result in higher airfares.

“This merger would be anti-competitive and harmful to consumers, with 20 percent of the problematic flight routes affecting Florida,” Bondi said in a release. “By filing this lawsuit, we hope to save consumers from potential multi-million dollar increases in prices and fees.”

Miami International Airport is one of American Airlines’ five U.S. hubs. The suit alleges the merger violates the Clayton Antitrust Act, noting that due to an overlap in the current routes by the two carriers several airports would see reductions in competition. Joining the Justice Department are Florida, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

News Service of Florida

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Florida Blue pays his salary with the money they extort from families every month in the name of providing health care. They pay his salary with the money they save denying coverage to someone after collecting outrageous premiums from that person for decades. Florida blue is laughing at you all and throwing you some tiny crumbs in the form of assignments like this. They must be up for renewal as city health care extorter er provider. The money we spend subsidizing health insureres is obscene. Maybe if they lowered their rates they wouldn't have so many extra high level execs who can just take off work for a year.

@liberty Seeker-have you ever heard of transferable skills? That means you have skills in one industry that can be used to perform duties in another industry.

He is a recruiter, so he can use his recruitment skills to recuit busimesses to joing the public private partnership initiative. It's a given, by virtue of his position with Blue, that he must have significant contacts in the private sector.

Usually, when the execs are on loan, the company they come from pays their salary.